July 16th

Bob and I spent the day mapping snowmobile (or snow machine as they're called in this neck of the woods) trails on his GPS so that a recreation plan can be developed for the area.

We met at nine and drove out Pat's Lake road to a network of logging roads taking us high above the back channel on the East side of the island. At the end of the road, we parked the truck and walked directly onto the bush. We followed an eroded path through the woods until we were close to tree line where open areas of muskeg dominated the forest. It's amazing to see how much of the land is covered in muskeg, even the tops of the mountains are covered by this loamy, puddle-filled ground. We followed an undeveloped trail to timberline at the top of the mountain, where we began retracing our path to the truck.

We then followed another timber spur road to a second informal trailhead at the spur's end. We pushed through incredibly dense brush before breaking our into a narrow glade lined with towering, moss covered trees. It's amazing to see what constitutes a trail in the rain forest. The tails are muddy.....and when I say muddy, i mean it. We hiked in tall rubber boots through muck so deep that it threatened to suck the boots off your feet. Trails this muddy would be closed in the lower 48 - yet they are the only way to hike through muskeg short of building an elevated boardwalk. We followed this trail to its high point where it opened up into a wide, treeless area pocked with ponds. On the way back to the truck, we saw numerous wolf and moose prints as well as what appeared to be bear tracks.

We got back to the truck around three. I made a bee line to the bunkhouse for a quick shower and the store for a few supplies before heading back to camp. I had given Jack the choice of coming with me or staying to work on his homework and he chose to stay - the Japanese is proving to be a challenge.

We relaxed at camp and watched the driftnet fishermen work the strait.